MWR : Articles : April 4, 2011

Articles : April 4, 2011

Sawatzky is honored

Walter Sawatsky was honored Jan. 20 for more than two decades of work with Mennonite Central Committee and Mennonite mission agencies in Eastern Europe and Russia. He was presented with a Festschrift — a celebratory book titled History and Mission in Europe: Continuing the Conversation, written by various authors. It is written in three languages, Russian, German and English, expressing key elements of Sawatsky’s contribution: historical study, community building, theological education and peacemaking.
Celebrating Souper Bowl Sunday

Pastor Mike Hiebert gave a series of sermons on “The Breath of God,” telling how God speaks to us as we search the Scriptures.
Returning to Albania

Pastor Todd Martin titled our first sermon of 2011 “Decade of the Divine.” He previously asked people of the congregation to write life stories or testimonies over the last year or going all the way back to the last decade. Six people’s stories were shared.

A new world for MWR

In 1923, H.P. Krehbiel of Newton, Kan., founded an independent Mennonite newspaper and gave it a long and descriptive name.

Harnessing sun’s power, for good and for profit

NEW HAMBURG, Ont. — A ground-mounted solar array on the Hillcrest Mennonite Church parking lot tracks the sun, soaking up its power to generate electricity.
Hesston students find meaning in disaster survivors’ emotional recovery

HESSTON, Kan. — Mrs. Butler had fallen sick and was spending time in a nursing home the week that a group of six Hesston College students came to work on her home in New Iberia, La.
Cultural awareness aids DOOR director

DENVER — As a third-grader, Antonio Lucero held a picture of his private school classroom in his hand, closed his eyes and prayed that God would make the picture disappear.
MCC helps Brazil churches confront domestic abuse

AKRON, Pa. — Ana Lúcia’s husband frequently beats her. When he threatened to kill her, the 30-year-old woman, a member of an evangelical church in Brazil’s northeast state of Pernambuco, shared her situation with church sisters.

Unions’ demands

I am responding to “Wisconsin Members Join Budget Protests” (March 14). The article pointed out the negative consequences of the governor’s cost-cutting laws. What is not often clarified is the abusive level of public union compensation, which was 28 percent above the rate of inflation. Public service employees no longer receive less pay than workers in the private sector. They receive much more. According to Newsmax, “Wisconsin teachers make 74.2 cents in retirement and health benefits for every dollar they earn in salary, compared to 24.3 cents in per dollar earned in the private sector.” In the past, unions defended workers against exploitation by employers. But today, in some instances, they have turned the tables and made unrealistic demands that lead to out-of-control public debts.
Israel divestment

In the 1930s in the prelude to World War II a prominent North American Mennonite leader, in a church paper, wrote about the “godless Jewish cabal.” In the last number of weeks, also in a time of many conflicts, we have read about students in Harrisonburg, Va., seeking divestment in certain companies doing business with Israel, and in Goshen, Ind., other students erecting a simulated wall between Israel and the West Bank. There can be a danger of the latter approaches degenerating into the former attitude if a desired outcome is not realized.